Not to be outdone by music lovers, movie buffs now have a chance to walk away with some great dining vouchers as well. This time, Young Post is teaming up with Blue Smoke Bar-B-Que, Central, to give away five HK$200 vouchers.

The kindergarten voucher subsidy benefits families of medium and high socio-economic status, but neglects those low on the ladder and may even be widening the rich-poor gap, a government-commissioned survey has found.

Families in the medium to high groups tend to use the money for their children's educational activities while the others use it for household expenses.

The controversy over ESF school fees is capturing the headlines but, in the process, it is obscuring some much bigger issues. The confusion has led one of my favourite - and Hong Kong's best - columnists to ask the right question, get the right answer, but then draw the wrong conclusion.

Elderly people will be restricted in the way they use their annual health care vouchers after a review found the controversial pilot scheme was not meeting the objective of promoting preventive medical care.

In keeping with the traditions of most developed societies, public education in Hong Kong is free - at least as far as schooling goes. But parents who want the best for their children know there are plenty of extra costs that add up quickly in the pressure-cooker environment for the top pupils and schools.

A vicious circle of lukewarm reactions from doctors and patients might be to blame for the low participation rate of the health care voucher scheme for the elderly.

The latest Department of Health statistics show that in the 18 months since the launch in January last year, only 38 per cent of eligible people have used a voucher and only a third of doctors have signed up.

Hotels across the region are stepping up the romance and creating great deals, according to website www.wotif.com. The site offers Valentine's Day deals across Asia that are 'perfect for kissing couples or for just spoiling yourself if you are single'.

Hong Kong parents are sick, sick, sick. Many project their own profound ignorance, twisted values and phobias onto their children in the hope of turning them into geniuses or CEOs, giving them a head start on everyone else or at least making them into their clones.